Lockheed C-130 Hercules WC-130A/B/E/H/J

The WC-130 is the weather reconnaissance version of the C-130 Hercules: a high-wing, medium-range aircraft configured with specialised weather instrumentation including a dropsonde deployment and receiver system, and crewed by a meteorologist, for the penetration of tropical cyclones and winter storms to obtain data on their movement, size and intensity.

In 1954 the Air Weather Service (AWS) replaced its WB-29 Superfortresses with a fleet of WB-50Ds deployed in seven squadrons. Between 1956 and 1960 six WB-50 accidents killed 66 crew members, and metal fatigue and other structural problems ended the type's service by 1965. The AWS wanted the C-130 Hercules as the best alternative, but budgetary limits prevented the procurement of new aircraft: Headquarters Air Force had always regarded aerial weather reconnaissance as an expendable luxury when cuts were needed or funds were required for expensive programmes. In 1958 the drive to field a large ICBM deterrent force shut down two AWS squadrons, followed by three more in March 1960. Fuel leaks that grounded the entire 66-aircraft WB-50 fleet in May 1960 accelerated a phaseout scheduled for completion by 1963. The AWS fought the decision, and alarm among senior operational commanders led General Thomas S. Power of Strategic Air Command to propose replacing the WB-50s with B-47s being retired by SAC; with Curtis LeMay's support, the modification of 34 WB-47Es was approved in 1963 along with the reactivation of three squadrons.

Meanwhile the bilateral moratorium with the Soviet Union on atmospheric nuclear testing was entering its third year when it was suggested that the classified air sampling programme run by at least five USAF commands be consolidated under a single manager. The AWS lobbied for the mission and in February 1961 submitted a plan naming itself single manager; LeMay, by then Air Force Chief of Staff, approved it on 31 August 1961, and the next day the Soviet Union resumed nuclear testing. Headquarters Air Force authorised the acquisition of five new C-130Bs factory-configured for the sampling mission, delivered in April 1962: these became the first weather-mission C-130 aircraft.

After the five C-130Bs came six C-130E conversions in 1965, this time as weather platforms. A dropsonde system was installed in all the C-130Bs and on 25 August 1965 the designation of all C-130 weather variants was permanently changed to WC-130. Three WC-130As were created in Southeast Asia in 1967 and eleven more WC-130Bs were added in 1970 to replace the WB-47s, abruptly retired in September 1969. The first of fifteen WC-130Hs was converted in 1973 from rescue command and control aircraft that had themselves been modified from C-130Es. Service lives overlapped across the 53rd, 54th, 55th and 56th Weather Reconnaissance Squadrons; the E and H models had the greatest longevity, at 28 and 32 years respectively. Of the seven original squadrons only the 53rd remains active, now assigned to Air Force Reserve Command.

The WC-130J, introduced in 1999, is the current platform of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, part of the 403rd Wing of Air Force Reserve Command at Keesler AFB, Mississippi. The WC-130 is the primary weather data collector for the National Hurricane Center, supplemented by NOAA's WP-3D Orion: it penetrates tropical cyclones and hurricanes at altitudes ranging from 500 to 10,000 feet (150 to 3,050 m) above the ocean surface depending on storm intensity, flies through the eye of the storm and relays the data instantly by satellite. Many of the aircraft replaced in the weather reconnaissance mission were de-modified and redistributed to other Reserve and Air National Guard wings for tactical airlift or training, while others were sold to foreign air forces. Only one WC-130 has been lost on an operational mission, H-model 65-0965, on 12 October 1974 in Typhoon Bess northeast of the Philippines; a former weather reconnaissance aircraft, H-model 65-0968, was lost on 2 May 2018 on its final ferry flight to retirement while serving with the Puerto Rico Air National Guard.